


No Single Riders

by kanjiklubgottold



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Amusement Park, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, This is basically Disney World
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 19:31:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7814323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanjiklubgottold/pseuds/kanjiklubgottold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn loves NabooWorld, but is expecting a fairly calm - if slightly boring - afternoon navigating the park by himself. But then *she* came along ...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Loop

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this awhile and some of the artwork from beanieart in my main tumblr could be considered spoilers for the story. I hope to update every other Finnrey Friday and start building up my writing stamina. Rating is for later chapters.

Finn was about to join the snaking line for Lando’s Loop when he spotted the young woman walking toward him. The glare from the sun washed out his field of vision for a moment, but after a second or two, he recognized her. She’d been in front of him in the line for the Hoth Hangar ride and also for _Greedo’s Grotto: An Underseas Adventure_. She’d turned around a few times and their eyes had met, but they hadn’t done more except nod genially in each other’s direction.

But now, she was headed right for him, a somewhat tight, shaky smile on her face. Finn patted his pockets, wondering if he’d dropped something when getting off the Hoth Hangar – those 360-degree spins had been … interesting, and a few people had yelled not because the ride was intense but because they were able to only watch helplessly as some of their possessions flew out of their grasp.

When he was greeted by the reassuring weight of his wallet and the jangle of his keys, his lips began to bend into a smile, but then he wondered if she were actually looking at someone in back of him. Somewhat embarrassed, he glanced over his shoulder but saw nothing except the busy bustle of other visitors of NabooWorld, darting here and there on their way to different parts of the amusement park.

Finn turned his head and reared back in mild alarm. She was now right in front of him, looking up from behind large red-rimmed plastic sunglasses that somehow managed not to overpower her small face.

“Hi.”

“Hi. Weren’t you on the Greedo ride a few minutes ago?”

“Uh … yeah. I was. You were a few people ahead of me in the line, right? I think I was in the car behind you.” Finn wondered what was going on. “Or maybe the one behind that?”

The woman nodded quickly. Her lips were trembling a bit and she cast a furtive look over her shoulder.

“Are you going on The Loop?”

“Yep.” Finn’s eyes shifted to where the line was growing ever longer. “I’ve never been on it before, but I’ve heard it’s the best ride here.”

“Right.” She again glanced over her shoulder. “I’m so sorry to impose and you can tell me to get lost if you want, but I was wondering if I could ask a huge favor?”

“Uh …” Finn swallowed hard. Sweat was trickling down his neck and he didn’t think it was because it was so warm outside.  “Well … sure, I guess. What is it?”

“I want to go on The Loop, too,” she said. “Could you stand in line with me so that we ride together? I’ve been on a few rides and always paired up with the same guy, and I might be really offbase, but I think he’s following me.”

Finn’s eyes went wide. “ _What?_ Holy shit. Are you okay?”

She nodded and let out a long breath, fiddling with the silver all-access bracelet on her wrist.

“I started off on the Flight Simulator over in Soloville, and he was in back of me in the line. We chatted a little, nothing earth-shattering. Just the sort of stuff you talk about when you’re in a queue that’s moving slowly. Well, we got paired up on the Simulator because we were both singles. I figured that would happen, but wasn’t sure …”

Finn understood just what she meant. NabooWorld was always busy and the lines for its rides always very long, therefore the park instituted a “no single riders” policy. If you weren’t with a friend or a group, you were paired indiscriminately with another single rider. Finn had never minded the rule, though this was the first time he'd ever been subjected to it. So far, he’d been paired with a quiet dad-type who'd cursed like a sailor during the last few spins of the Hangar, with a few kids whose parents snapped pictures of them each time the ride passed them, and with one really awesome older lady on the Gungan Slide who’d told a bunch of dudebros to stop being douchebags with their incessant cursing around small children.

“… So we get off the Simulator, the guy asks me what I’m up to and if I’m meeting friends.” She grimaced. “Like an idiot, I told him I was here by myself and that I hoped he had a nice rest of his time at the park. I figured that would be that. But when I joined a new queue for a few other rides, there he was. At first I thought it was just coincidence. I’m doing The Grid and figured maybe he was, too.”

Finn nodded. The Grid was a system that allowed infrequent visitors to NabooWorld to maximize their time at the park. Following the Grid to the letter entailed going to each section of the park and doing the rides in sequence. All those who opted to follow the Grid started in Soloville, went through the Bespin Outpost – where they were now – then over to the Takadona Triangle and finished up in Alderaan Square. There was little wasted time and most visitors were able to go on all, if not most, of the rides that way, but there'd be little time for sightseeing or taking in any of the non-ride entertainment at NabooWorld, such as the Hall of Paaerduag and the Jabiimas Jamboree.

“I started getting a weird vibe when we were in the queue for the Grotto. He just seemed very … full-on. I kept trying to blank him but he wasn’t getting the hint. He tried to talk to me during the ride and every time he opened his mouth, I screamed.” She smirked a little. “It wasn’t that scary a ride, but it was my only way to shut him out. Now I think he followed me over here. I tried to lose him in Astromech Corner, but I think he caught on.”

Finn scanned the milling crowd. There weren’t too many lone guys out there that he could see – just a lot of families, a few groups of kids who looked like they were on trips with their day camps, and a few people in suits who looked tired, hot and confused.

““What’s he look like? Wait – was this the guy who was right in front of you in the Greedo line? With the black hair and the Slayer T-shirt?”

“Yes!” Her eyes widened behind the dark lenses. “You noticed him, then?”

“Well, sort of. He was pretty tall and you guys weren’t too far away from where I was standing. The way he was talking to you, I thought you were together.”

“He was talking _at_ me _,_ really,” she said with a shudder. “I probably should have just turned my back on him and kept quiet, but I _still_ would have had to ride with him and that would have been awkward as hell.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet … _shit_. I think I see him.”

Finn watched a tall, reedy man with a mop of dark, longish hair walk slowly around a cluster of children. He barely moved his head, but still gave off the appearance of searching for something – or someone. Some convenient sculptures along with throngs of passersby were obscuring them from the man’s view, but Finn reckoned that wouldn’t be the case for long.

“C’mon. We’ll get in line,” he said in a low voice. “He’s not too far away. This is a popular ride, so hopefully if he spots you over here, there’ll at least be a few people between us and him.”

They walked with the crowd and joined the end of the queue. Finn kept watch on the area where he’d last seen the tall man, frowning when he couldn’t spot him anywhere, and then letting out his breath when he saw him materialize almost directly in front of the sign indicating the line for The Loop. The good news was, a family of three had lined up behind them, so there was that buffer Finn had hoped for.

“Let’s switch places,” said Finn, moving so that he was standing with his back toward the crowd, more or less shielding his companion from view. “There’s a huge crowd in this area. Hopefully he’ll just keep walking. He didn’t do anything to you, did he? Like … touch you, or anything?”

“No, he just talked. And stared.” She was looking up at him, and Finn thought she seemed more relaxed. “It’s my fault for telling him I was alone –”

“Nah, don’t blame yourself. He might have followed you anyway,” said Finn. “And anyway, being here by yourself doesn’t mean it’s open-season for jerks to stalk you.”

“I still can’t believe he was actually following me.” She sounded amazed. “I mean, why? I wasn’t particularly nice to him, other than making random conversation in the queue for the first ride.”

Finn made a noncommittal sound. A creepy asshole might well have deluded himself that her casual chitchat was an invitation to more – and even if he had gotten her ‘not interested’ signals, might have been willing to follow her all over NabooWorld in hopes of wearing her down.

She pushed her sunglasses up to rest atop her head, and Finn felt his pulse jump. The glasses hadn’t hidden much, but he’d been aware that she was pretty. Looking now at her unadorned face, he could truthfully say that “pretty” was an understatement.

“I just realized I didn’t get your name.”

“Oh, right. It’s Finn.”  He wondered if he should shake her hand, or if they were beyond that point already.

“I’m Rey.” The words were accompanied by a warm smile. “It’s very nice to meet you, Finn.”

Her smile suddenly unbent at the corners.

“I think he’s spotted us. Yeah … he’s looking in this direction. I don’t think he realizes that I see him - yet.”

The back of Finn’s neck tingled. It was almost as if he could feel the man’s eyes on them. He glanced quickly to the side. Two more people had joined the line, so now there were five people between them and the end of the line. At least five people between them and Creepster M’Loser – _if_ he decided to join the line.

“Okay. We’re okay.” Finn infused his voice with assurance and angled his body to conceal Rey as much as possible from the strange man’s vantage-point. “Let’s just keep talking. So, uh, this is your first time at NabooWorld, huh?”

“Oh … yes.” She was again twisting her ride bracelet. “When I made arrangements for the trip here, I’d hoped there’d be time enough for me to visit. There’s nothing like this where I’m from. I mean, I live in D'Qar Square now, but I've never seen anything like NabooWorld.”

Finn’s forehead creased. That was interesting. He’d pegged Rey for a Coruscanti, just judging by her accent. The Isle of Coruscant had _everything_ – including Funland, a _city_ that was entirely an amusement park.

“Where are you from? Originally, I mean?”

“Jakku Valley.” Rey chuckled at Finn’s expression. “Usually that look means you’ve been there yourself.”

“I was there for two days a few years ago. It was … yeah.” Finn tried not to gag at the memory. “That’s a hell of a place to grow up. All that heat. All that _sand_.”

“You get used to it,” said Rey with a shrug. “So you’re from Naboo Heights?”

“Nope. Grew up in a small town on the Hosnian Plateau. I came here for work once I got discharged from the Army.”

Rey’s expression crumpled and Finn wondered if Rey was a protester of the War who opposed to anyone who participated in the military-industrial complex. He’d tangled with a few such people since his return. He understood their points, but still …

Suddenly, Finn knew why Rey looked so pained. Another sharp tingle at the base of his neck set his teeth on edge, and he glimpsed a dark blur in his periphery.

Edgelord McGoth was walking up the line. Passing them. Slowly.

Finn grimaced and shifted position again to cover Rey, though he knew on some level that concealing her wasn’t going to do much good at this juncture.

“What brings you to Naboo City? Vacation? School?” Finn hoped to encourage Rey to return to their conversation and ignore her “admirer’s” proximity.

“No, for work.” Rey sighed softly. “Well, I suppose it’s sort of a working vacation, actually …”

Finn listened with interest as Rey explained that she was freelance travel writer, mainly writing about cities and towns that had implemented or were implementing extensive sustainability development programs. She’d become interested in the subject living in Jakku Valley, she explained, because its water system was anything _but_ sustainable. Naboo City happened to be hosting a convention of writers whose focus was on the environment, conservation and sustainability practices and she’d been hired by a magazine based in central D’Qar Square to cover the conference. Rey commented wryly that she also hoped to make some connections with some other writers and editors of publications who needed freelancing, so it was part work and part networking.

“… And I really wanted to see NabooWorld,” she said, winding up her story, “and figured maybe some others at the conference would want to go. I met a few nice people at some of the seminars and tried to organize a group trip, but most of them wanted to go to the outlets or hang out at the pool getting massages.” Rey rolled her eyes. “One guy told me to forget NabooWorld and come to his suite for room service and a documentary on new desalination methods.”

“Huh. So that’s what Netflix and Chill on an expense account looks like.”

They both laughed. Up ahead, a gate clanged and there was an excited garble of voices. A stream of people filed out of the exit of Lando’s Loop, some looking a little shaky on their feet, and a few darting with their hands over their mouths toward the line of restrooms that served as a border of sorts between Soloville and Bespin Outpost.

Finn traded bemused looks with Rey. “Looks like The Loop is some ride.”

“Before I heard about The Grid, it was the ride I wanted to go on first,” said Rey. “You’ve never been on it?”

“Nope, they were still building it when I was here last, but I could tell from the construction they were doing that it was going to be outstanding,” said Finn. “A few weeks before it opened, I found a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube. They had to get NASA to design a special safety harness because at points in the ride, you feel like you’re almost in zero-G.”

“I know!” Rey’s voice radiated enthusiasm. “I read about that and nearly booked my tickets then and there. I would’ve probably been first in line if I lived here. I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t want to try it. Well, unless they hate heights … and speed …”

“ … And crowds.”

“Good point.”

Rey turned her head as the people ahead of her shuffled forward. The line was moving.

Finn looked down the queue and saw people being ushered into the gates that would take them to The Loop. There was quite a crowd, and while the ride could fit about 50, by Finn’s quick and utterly unscientific calculation, he and Rey were going to have to wait at least one more cycle before they’d get to ride. Finn wasn’t exactly sad about that, as he was enjoying talking to Rey and he didn’t think there’d be room for much conversation on the ride itself.

As they edged forward, Finn looked behind him, almost instinctively, at the crooked line of people that had joined the line since he and Rey had done so. He squinted, but couldn’t see Shitbag Squarepants in the waiting throng.

“Is he back there?” Rey’s voice was soft, but anxious.

“He might be,” said Finn in an equally quiet voice. “I don’t see him, but from what I can remember, he was really working that 2004 emo look, so he might be blending in with the shadows.”

Rey’s laughter made Finn smile. She had a nice laugh to go along with the nice … everything else. His face warmed and he cautioned himself to keep it together. Rey had escaped the unwanted attentions of one asshole already that afternoon. He didn’t want to slide in there as Player 2.

The line moved almost as a single entity toward the bronze double gates and the sign above it proclaiming **LANDO’S LOOP** ( _enter if you dare_!) in deep-red letters. Finn thought that his calculations might have been off, because he could see the ticket taker – a woman with dark hair and white designs on her face that Finn assumed was a mimic of some of the markings on sculptures from the central Togruta Province – grabbing tickets or scanning bracelets.

When there were about 10 people ahead of them, however, the woman held up one hand, and motioned with the other to some unseen person. The gates clanged shut and there was an audible groan from those at the front of the line. The woman smiled vaguely in the direction of the crowd and then disappeared somewhere just beyond Finn’s line of sight.

“ _Almost._ ” Rey sounded excited. “Usually the ride is a letdown after all the waiting, but I don’t think that’ll be true here.”

“I agree, though I’ve definitely had worse waits in a long line,” said Finn, smiling at her. “Actually, I’m having trouble coming up with a time I had more fun than I’m having now just standing around.”

“Hm. Same here.” Rey was smiling, too, and Finn thought her cheeks seemed pinker than before. But, he reasoned, that could have been the heat.

“I was wondering, are _you_ here by yourself?” asked Rey, putting her sunglasses on against the sun glaring overhead, “I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with that – obviously. In fact, as a local, it would make sense that you just come whenever you want to, and it would be no big deal.”

“I’ve gotta say that in the nearly two years I’ve lived here, coming to NabooWorld has _always_ been a big deal to me.” Finn grinned. “But no, I’m technically not here alone. Actually, a better way of putting it is that I didn’t come here alone, but it ended up that way.”

“Really? What happened?”

“I came here today with my roommate, and his girlfriend, and two guys my roommate and I work with,” said Finn, “My roommate decided that he was going to propose to his girlfriend today – here, because it’s where they had their first date – and he wanted all of us along for moral support.”

“Oh! That’s sweet!”

“Yeah, well, it would’ve been, maybe, if he’d told any of us.” Finn chuckled and shook his head. “He was so nervous and scrambled that he didn’t mention it to me or the other dudes, and so we were all like ‘Huh? What’s going on?’ when he got down on one knee outside the Tauntaun Tunnel of Terror. He ended dropping the ring and it rolled under a pile of the fake guts you get before you get on the ride. It was sort of a messy recovery. She did say yes, though.”

“Congratulations to them. I’m sure she’ll never forget that proposal,” said Rey, biting her lip to hide a smile. “Did they not want to go on The Loop?”

“I think Geena’s a fan, but Slip – my roommate – gets motion sickness,” said Finn. “But mainly, me and the other guys figured that we’d give them time alone to … enjoy getting engaged. Thing is, me and those other guys really can’t stand each other, so once we got out of Soloville, they went on to Takodona Triangle to go to the arcade and I came to Bespin because I wanted to do The Loop.”

“You said you moved here for your job,” said Rey. “And that you’d been in the army. Is your work connected to the military or are you doing something different?”

“You could say it’s, um, security-focused,” said Finn, willing his mood to stay positive. Any talk about the garbage that was his “career” tended to depress him, but he didn’t want Rey to know that.

“I help design body armor for people going into combat or for law-enforcement situations. The armed forces are our top client but not the only one.”

“Wow, that’s a really intense profession.” Rey seemed to hesitate before asking: “You were in combat then? In the War?”

Finn nodded. “Two tours. The first one was a piece of cake. The second one … uh … well, I made it back, anyway. In one piece. Relatively.”

“Where I live in D’Qar Square isn’t too far from the Air Academy, so I’m around a lot of people who are ex-military.” Rey was studying him. “You were injured?”

“Yep. When I joined up, they said that I wouldn’t leave the Army empty-handed, and they were right.” Finn’s mouth twisted in a sarcastic grin. “I left with a Bronze Comet, a Green Chalice and a _lot_ of scar tissue.”

Rey’s eyebrows knit. “The Bronze Comet? That’s for soldiers wounded during battle, isn’t it? And the Green Chalice is for … gallantry in combat.”

“Wow.” Finn was half-amused and half-uncomfortable. A few people in front of Rey had overheard and were glancing at him. “You really _do_ know a lot of ex-military.”

“Finn, you’re a _hero_.” Rey sounded awed. “You’re, what, 22 or 23?”

“Good guess. Just turned 24 a few weeks ago.”

“Small world. I turn 24 next week.” Her smile was brief. “I don’t know if there are any Green Chalice recipients that are so young. Do you know if there are any? Did anyone interview you when you got back home?”

“From what I’ve heard, there’s only two in the history of the Army who got a Green Chalice at my age. I was 23 when it was awarded,” said Finn. “I forget the name of one of them, but the other one was some dude from Tatooine Springs. A guy named Skywalker, I think. And, nah, no interviews or ticker-tape parades or guest spots on John Oliver or anything. It was all good. I kinda like to keep a low profile.”

“Forgive all the questions, please. It’s the journalist in me." Rey chewed her bottom lip. "I’m sorry you were hurt, and glad you made it back in one piece. If you got the Green Chalice, though, that means some _other_ people made it back in one piece who might not have if it weren’t for you.”

Finn said nothing as he was thrust back in time to _that_ night … that _awful_ night where his squadron had just walked into that ambush. He saw his hand grabbing the edge of Slip’s uniform and yanking him out of the line of sniper fire a split second before Slip would have been reduced to a red mist covering the sand dunes. He remembered the rank smell of his sweat in the sweltering helmet and the gritty sand in his night goggles … remembered aiming blindly at the enemy, managing to hit a few, holding off the rest as those who were still breathing escaped or were evacuated ...

A hero.

Finn hated the War. He wondered if this Luke Skywalker – the man who’d been awarded the Green Chalice decades ago at the same age he was now – had felt the same.

“Yeah.” Finn rubbed his neck. “On paper, I guess I am. I’m just glad my part in the War is over. I’ve seen enough of that for a lifetime.”

Rey nodded and a long, slightly awkward silence spun out.

“Sorry if I got too heavy,” said Finn after a few moments of the two of them looking everywhere except at each other. “It’s just hard for me sometimes to think about the things I saw over there or anything that was done there as ‘heroic.’ It was survival, definitely.”

“I understand,” said Rey softly. “I’m sorry if I reopened old wounds.”

Finn turned his head in time to see her eyes round with shock.

“I - I didn’t mean … sorry.” Her face was bright red. “That was a _really_ unfortunate turn of phrase.”

He laughed and shook his head. “No, it’s fine. You’re fine, really. I almost wish you _could_ open up this disaster on my back. Maybe doctors here could do a better job stitching it up than the jokers in Lower Arkanis did.”

Rey still looked somewhat mortified. “Was it really that bad? I’ve heard stories about open-air medic units, but isn’t the Arkanis Strait supposed to have so much medical technology there?”

“Generally, but for some reason, there wasn’t too much of that great technology on the front lines. They did their best. It was a field hospital. But they used a stapler.” Finn shivered at the memory. “An actual office stapler. Like in that Matt Damon movie where he’s stuck on Mars.”

“Oh my _god_.”

“When I look back on it, I guess I was lucky they even had _that_. They were thinking about using paper clips.”

Finn saw Rey’s face go almost alarmingly pale.

“You can’t be serious – _they_ couldn’t have been serious!”

“Let’s just say I developed a serious aversion to office supplies after that.”

They stared at each other for a moment. Finn was the first to break, his lips trembling before his entire body shook with laughter. Rey followed suit, nearly falling into him.

They were still laughing when the stern-faced ticket taker opened the gate and beckoned the next round of riders inside.


	2. The Triangle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay. Shitty Life Things™ started happening just around the time I started this. I'm gonna soldier on with this and, eventually, The Stand-in. Thanks for being so patient.

Finn was _not_ laughing when he exited Lando’s Loop. Neither was Rey.

They both walked on wobbly legs among the rest of the departing guests, holding on to each other as they became reacquainted with the concept of breathing and searched for a bench on which to collapse.

“I was cool until that last straightaway,” said Finn, when they’d caught their breath. “When we started accelerating, I think that’s when I felt my soul trying to leave my body.”

“I thought that last part was all right, but the twist sequence right before?” Rey shook her head in awe. “It’s good thing you reminded me to take off my sunglasses, because I don’t think they would’ve fallen off – I think they would have been melded to my head!”

Finn hid a smile. On the few chances he’d gotten to glance over at her during the ride, her eyes had been tightly shut, however, but she was now looking up at him with green-gold eyes shining with excitement.

“Now I know why they have a defibrillator, oxygen tank _and_ barf bags waiting when you get off the ride.” Finn smirked. “The only thing they’re missing is a hotline to your clergy of choice to either talk you down or put in a good word for you if you don’t think you’re gonna make it.”

They cracked up, earning some looks of disdain from some of their fellow riders passing by, who, judging by their shaken expressions, didn’t find anything funny about what they’d just experienced.

“Now I know why the man who sold me my ticket laughed so hard when I said I wanted to get on Lando’s Loop at least three times,” said Rey, when they’d calmed down. “I thought maybe he was insinuating that I wouldn’t want to wait in a long line more than once. _Now_ I realize that he figured that I would have a different opinion after riding it the first time!”

“Yeah, more than once in a day? You’re either a masochist or you’re cool with shaving five years off your life expectancy.”

Finn trailed off when he saw a tall, dark figure in the crowd that was now thinning out. He and Rey looked at each other, the laughter gone from their faces now.

They’d been ensconced in their two-seater car – and in their harnesses – chatting and waiting for the ride to get underway when Fuckboy Fred had passed them with his partner, a bored-looking teen with a Go Pro strapped to his hat. Finn had been prepared to do battle if the asshole had said anything slick to Rey or made any move toward her, but he’d just walked by, ignoring them in an almost ostentatious manner, turning his head so far away from them that Finn could see the back of the man’s neck.

And now Pissbaby The First had made his reappearance. Just as before, he passed very close to them, but he was looking at his phone – or pretending to – walking on without so much as a glance in their direction. He was aware of their presence, though – Finn could tell from the other man’s overly straight posture and the tight way his fingers closed around his phone. He seemed to realize that Rey was no longer an unprotected target, but Finn was angry that this fuckstick was still around at all.

“What a weirdo,” said Rey with a grimace. “I mean, he’s not even remotely my type, but would it have been so hard for him to just ask if maybe I wanted to get a frozen lemonade or something rather than just staring at me and then following me around?”

“We’re talking about a guy who’s still in his emo/scene kid phase and is probably about 30,” said Finn, staring hard at the area where the tall man had merged with the throng and disappeared.

“Well, I think he’s gotten the hint, anyway, and that’s the important part.”

Finn looked at her again, blushing under the golden gaze. She was probably right. Assmunch Unlimited probably had decided to gather up what shreds of dignity he had left and go about his business.

“Are you hitting up the rest of the rides in the Grid, then?”

“Definitely! Though, I have to say going on the Dagobah Dive will seem like nothing after _this_.”

“It has its moments,” said Finn, “but yeah, you probably won’t feel like your lungs are turning inside out.”

He cast a last look at the crowd heading toward other areas of the park before swinging toward Rey.

“Listen, Rey … uh … if you wanted me to spot you on some other rides or anything, just in case … I’d be glad to. I mean, you’re probably right that ol’ dude is going back to his apartment to loop _My Immortal_ for the rest of the day, but in case he doesn’t … or I could give you my cell number and if you see him, you could call me or text me if you think he’s trying to get close again.”

 “Wow …” Rey fiddled with the stems of her sunglasses. “I can’t believe it …”

Feeling embarrassment thrumming through him, Finn looked down at his knees. Well, there went his carefully laid _Don’t-Be-A-Creeper_ plans.

“Just a suggestion. You don’t have to –”

“No, I mean, I can’t believe that we were thinking the same thing.” She smiled into his eyes. “The whole time I was peeling myself out of the harness after The Loop ended was over, I was trying to figure out how to ask you if you wanted to keep hanging out without seeming needy or clingy or just … _strange_.”

Finn felt his stomach do a slow twist that had nothing to do with high speeds or spirals.  Suddenly, he couldn’t look away from Rey. Pretty … she was so _pretty_ … and her smile was so … and her _eyes_ were so …

“You’re not any of those,” Finn said, barely able to hear himself above his heartbeat. “I mean, _maybe_ I would have said you’re a little bit of that last one if you really did go on The Loop three times, but you obviously have sense.”

“Well, there’s that.” She laughed. “Are you sure it’s okay? Will your friends worry? Or be angry?”

He very nearly said ‘What friends?’ before remembering Slip, Geena … and the two goons.

“They’ll be okay. I’ll text my roommate in a bit, but he and his fiancée are probably still feeding each other redsprout icies over at the Corellian Cantina. And those other guys, I’ll see them on Monday.” _Unfortunately._

“OK, if you’re _sure_. … Thank you.” Rey gave him a dazzling smile and stood, stretching her arms over her head. “You’re so sweet to do this. I’d be glad to buy _you_ an iced lemonade, if you wanted.”

“I may take you up on that – after we get out of Bespin.” Finn stood, too. “It would probably not be a great idea to eat or drink anything before we get on any more rides in _this_ section.”

“I hear that.” She eyed him as they walked slowly toward the ramp that would take them out of sphere of The Loop. “So … any other tips before we go on the Dive?”

“Just one.” Finn smiled grimly. “Hold your nose.”

* * *

Finn didn’t know if it was a sign or just happy coincidence, but the sulfuric, rotten-egg smell that usually accompanied the swamp atmosphere of the Dagobah Dive was not as strong as it had been on previous visits. Usually the scent impregnated itself into Finn’s clothes, but it was completely gone by the time he and Rey had gone on the Voss Vortex. The Manaan Meteor, the final ride in the Bespin Outpost, was almost laughably slow after The Loop, but it was a ride that happened in total darkness, save for a few streaks of light that represented meteor showers.

At the end, during the last turn, an enormous “meteor” lit up the cavern and Finn saw Rey looking up in awe, clearly impressed by the effect. He had to admit that it was beautiful – he’d been on the ride a million times but had never really paid much attention. Seeing Rey’s reaction to it, however, made him realize how he’d missed out – though he did feel a rush experiencing it through her eyes.

“The best thing about the Grid is that it sort of builds in kind of a breather,” said Finn as they exited the Bespin area and walked toward the relentlessly green Takodana Triangle. “You get warmed up in Soloville, then shaken up in Bespin. In Takodana, most of the rides are sort of like tours – the Lake Country Joyboat takes you all around the perimeter of the Triangle, and there are paddle boats and some water rides, too. But the main attraction is the arcade in the middle. Lots of games where you can win prizes and all. Most of them are rigged, but all of them are fun.”

Rey lit up at the mention of the arcade, but she admitted that the Joyboat had been at the top of her list of attractions, and so they went straight down to the jetty where the long, two-tiered riverboat lay docked, taking on passengers for the Tour de Triangle. Finn had a brief thought that Asswipe Extraordinaire might be lurking, but he didn’t see him among those already seated and snapping pictures of still water. He and Rey managed to score a seat on the second level, squeezing into a bench for two near the rear of the boat.

“This is incredible!” Rey’s head swiveled round. Her dark hair, arranged in three tidy buns stacked atop each other, shone in the sunlight. “It’s so _green._ And the water is just … wow! It was a long time before I knew something like this could exist. In Jakku Valley it was just sand, more sand, and gritty water from the Niima River.”

Finn recalled how happy he had been to leave Jakku Valley, and he’d only been there for a few days. He couldn’t imagine actually _living_ in a place like that.

“Damn. That sounds … pretty crappy, to be honest. What were your parents thinking, moving to a place like that? Are they really into deserts and tumbleweed?”

“I don’t know.” Rey shrugged. “I wish I _could_ ask them what they were thinking.”

Finn puzzled over that for a second, and then the meaning behind the words slapped him between the eyes.

“Shit … Rey, I’m sorry.” He wanted to strangle himself. “I didn’t know –”

Rey turned swiftly toward him, her eyes wide.

“No! That’s not what I meant. Well, not really. You see –”

A loud, artificially chipper voice accompanied by sugary music cut into her words. The Joyboat was pulling out, and the guide was going into his spiel as the large boat backed out, turned in a slow arc, and headed downriver.

For the next half-hour, the passengers floated along the circular route while the voice droned on about the real so-called triangle in the real Takodana Falls, after which that part of NabooWorld was modeled. Tall trees blotted out the sun at some parts of the ride, giving a nice, if brief, respite from the sun, and Finn blocked out the stilted voice and the hokey music in favor of observing Rey out of the corner of his eye as she filmed the ride on her phone.

She looked enraptured by her surroundings, occasionally gasping at the appearance of some water birds swimming below or nesting in the trees, and more than once gently grasping Finn’s elbow and leaning close to point out something on his side that had caught her eye. Finn was relieved that his slipup had not diminished Rey’s good time, and he was amused by her enthusiasm. He’d never ridden the Joyboat himself – he generally only spent time in Takodana Triangle for the arcade. But, he reflected, he hadn’t grown up in a place where water was at a premium. His upbringing on the Hosnian Plateau had lacked a lot of things, but water hadn’t been one of them.

The ride allowed Finn a chance to relax and enjoy the scenery. It was nice, just floating down a river – well, sort of – with a gorgeous woman at his side who seemed to be enjoying his company, too. She’d nudged him to look at a few stocky, pink birds that were swimming alongside the boat, and her hand stayed on his shoulder the entire time. It was a comforting weight and a distracting one, and he’d had to clamp down on some fairly _not_ innocent scenarios involving Rey putting her hands on his shoulders that were flashing in his brain.

He was almost sad when the Joyboat had completed its circuit and they were disembarking. Rey was keen to go to the gift shop – located conveniently next to the dock – to pick up a book that detailed the tour and its various flora and fauna. She looked back longingly at the Joyboat but beamed when Finn suggested they take out one of the paddleboats and do their own tour of the small lake that abutted the arcade.

There was a short queue for the ride – apparently paddleboating was a less popular attraction than the others – and only a few out on the water. Finn had to refrain from rolling his eyes at the plethora of cutesy names in the Takodana section – the paddleboats were called Paonga-Perfect Paddlecrafts – but he grinned when Rey wrinkled her nose at the boats that had butterfly and rainbow motifs and went straight for the one shaped like an enormous dragon. It was purple and almost terrifyingly detailed, with delicately etched scales that glittered in the sunlight.

“I don’t know about this,” Finn teased as they put on lifejackets and climbed into their chosen craft. “Is a dragon the best choice? I mean fire and water don’t really mix.”

“The dragons back in Jakku are just fine with water,” Rey said with a smirk. “Well, not _dragons_ , obviously, but I lived in a place that had a ton of gila monsters. I was nervous about that at first, but then realized it was because there was a small stream – a tributary of the Niima – nearby. They never bothered me, though. All they wanted to do was swim, eat and sleep.”

“That’s not a bad life. I like their philosophy.”

Finn looked down at the paddles – they were chrome and black, and he could just reach them without having to contort his body too much. Rey had to adjust her seat just slightly forward, but they were soon off across the lake, following the guide’s instructions to go diagonally across and then counter clockwise to complete the circuit. They were, Finn thought, a good team. Together they’d worked up a good speed – almost _too_ good – and so had to slack off a little and let the current carry them for a while.

“This is incredible.” Rey inhaled and held her breath, as if savoring the flavor of the lake air. “Thank you, Finn. If you’d not wanted to stick around, I probably would have just gone back to my hotel and caught up on _American Horror Story_ or something.”

“Not to brag, but yeah, I’ll agree that hanging out with me does sort of beat watching people get artfully murdered in a lot of improbable ways.” Finn half-smiled. “Though it has its attractions. Angela Bassett for one.”

“Yes, she’s wonderful. You like her?” Rey looked over at him, eyebrows raised.

“Oh yeah …” He belatedly realized that his expression was a bit … mushy. “She’s got the most amazing … acting skills.”

“Mm hm.” There was amusement in her voice. “ _And_ she’s beautiful.”

“Um. Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That, too.”

There was no sound for a few minutes except for the gentle slap of water against the side of the boat. They passed another paddleboating pair – an older man and a young girl Finn assumed was his daughter – who seemed to be going in circles. Finn wasn’t entirely sure that was on purpose.

“So, do you have a girlfriend … or anything?”

Finn turned sharply, nearly hitting his knee on the underside of the boat. Rey had put her sunglasses back on – a smart move to deflect the glare of the sun off the still water of the pond – but he had the feeling that she was watching him out of the corner of her eye.

He wasn’t sure why he was so suddenly nervous. It was a purely innocuous question. Nothing to read into at all.

“Uh, no. I’m not dating anyone right now.” Finn was pleased at how casual he sounded, though he wasn’t quite sure how to interpret Rey’s sudden smile. “No girlfriend or … anything. Nope. Nooo. Not me.”

_Okay, she gets the message. You can probably stop talking now, dumbass._

“It just occurred to me that it was probably a stupid question,” she said. “I mean, if you were with someone, they’d probably be here with you. You wouldn’t have come alone.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah … this is a pretty cool place for a date. It worked for Slip and Geena, after all.” He glanced around the lake. “But, I mean, if I _were_ dating someone and we had different schedules, then maybe I _would_ come alone, or with friends or something.”

“Different schedules? Do you mean like different work schedules?”

“Right. I mean, my job is pretty much 9-5, but hers might not be. She might – I don’t know – be working and going to school, or have a job where she has to travel a lot.”

“Yeah, that definitely _is_ a thing.”

He looked over at her and they grinned shyly at each other. Her cheeks were pink again.

“What about you? Are you seeing anybody right now?”

She shook her head. “I just moved to D’Qar a few months ago. I don’t really know anybody there yet. I’ve pretty much been on the move chasing down stories.”

“Oh. So, uh, you didn’t leave anybody back in Jakku Valley?”

“Ha. No. The few people who did live there weren’t really what I’d call relationship material,” said Rey with a sardonic grin. “The area where I lived didn’t have too many people around anyway. It was pretty desolate.”

“Did you have a group of people you liked to hang out with sometimes?”

“You mean like friends? Not really.” She shrugged. “You really couldn’t do that there. It was … well, pretty hard to explain. I meant it by the way.”

“Huh?” Finn blinked in confusion. “Meant what?”

“What I said when we were on the Joyboat, about wishing I could ask my parents what they were thinking,” said Rey. “I know you thought I meant that they were dead, and maybe they are, but I meant it literally. I wish I _could_ ask them that. I wish I could ask them anything, really.”

“I don’t understand.” Finn stared at her. “What do you mean _maybe_ they’re dead? You don’t - you don’t know for sure?”

“Nope. They left me in Jakku Valley when I was five. I have no idea who they are or where they might be now.”

Finn’s vision briefly went black. He couldn’t believe his ears.

“They _what?_ They actually left you in a place like Jakku Valley? By yourself? When you were _five years old?_ "

“Yep. Just … dropped me off and kept moving.” Rey’s voice was deceptively light, but she was looking straight ahead. “It was 18 years ago, but I still remember that day so clearly. I remember being so hot and uncomfortable. I remember the sand, though I didn’t know what it was called at the time. I remember being so afraid when Plutt took my hand …”

“Who’s Plutt?”

“Unkar Plutt.” Her voice was emotionless. “He sort of owns the part of the Valley west of the Niima. All the businesses in that area are his. How he made the money to get started in a place that is literally considered Hell’s Asshole is anybody’s guess, but whatever it is he did or does is probably illegal as hell.”

“Why would your parents leave you with _him?_ Was he related to you or something?”

Rey’s laughter was soft, but carried a brief, bitter edge.

“No. I worked for him. That’s another question I’d love to ask my family. If they wanted to just … if they didn’t want to care for me, why not just dump me in the mid-Valley? I probably would have just died of sunstroke in a day or two. That would have been a lot easier than being around _that_ man for almost 20 years.”

A cold chill raced up Finn’s back. The change in Rey’s speech pattern was unnerving and a good bit disturbing. Before, she was engaged and enthusiastic. Now she spoke like a reluctant speaker at a high school graduation, almost as if she were reading off cue cards, utterly detached from the subject matter. Her posture was stiff and defensive, and his stomach lurched when he considered the possible subtext of Rey’s comment about having _worked_ for this Plutt character.

“Buzzkill, huh? Sorry about that.” Rey sounded bemused. “I don’t really get a chance to talk to anyone about much beyond conservation and best practices for collecting compost material.”

Finn’s head was whirling. He wasn’t sure how to process anything he’d just learned about Rey. She’d been abandoned by her parents in a sandswept wasteland. She’d been in the employ, in some capacity, of someone who sounded like one of those toy gangsters from an old movie. And yet somehow she’d survived all that. It made him even angrier to think of Rey being trailed around NabooWorld by that Jim Adkins wannabe. She’d been through enough in her life without having to deal with that level of douchiness.

“We can talk about something else, if you want,” said Rey. “What was it like growing up on the Hosnian Plateau?”

Finn watched Rey out of the corner of his eye. She seemed a little tense, but he could discern hope threaded in her words. She wanted to keep talking but was eager to change the subject, possibly with a dire need to do so. But to answer her question was not likely, Finn thought with an internal shudder, to lighten the mood much, if at all.

“It was … cold. Probably as cold as Jakku Valley was hot.” Finn squinted at a point in the distance. “We were high up on the steppes. It felt like being on a really flat mountain with ice and frost everywhere. And it always seemed like it was snowing. You could only wear sneakers from July to the end of August, then it was back to boots and heavy jackets.”

“You don’t sound like you liked it much.”

“I wasn’t a big fan of snow,” said Finn, staring out at the water. It was a deep blue and smooth as glass. The lake was manmade, but it was supposed to be a perfect replica of the Joppa Lake across town on the old Naberrie estate.  Not that anyone would know for sure – the Naberrie compound had been shut down ages ago, he’d been told. Allegedly that had been one unlucky family. Finn wondered whose idea it was to re-create a lake whose original was located on what was considered “cursed” land?

“The cold, I could deal with,” said Finn, forcing his eyes away from the water.  “But the snow sort of made everything look grimy, you know? Where I grew up on the Plateau was sort of industrial. A lot of gray and black, and the snow didn’t really improve things much.”

“Huh. It's hard for me to imagine snow making things look dirty.” Rey raised her shoulders. “I didn’t see snow in real life until about a year ago. It was only a small storm, but I thought the snow looked so pretty falling.”

“Well, yeah, _that_ part’s okay, and when it first accumulates on the ground and it’s just crisp and white and clean. But then people walk in it, and there’re cars and trucks and bikes everywhere … and don’t get me started on the _yellow_ snow …”

“Ugh! Please don’t. I still want to get that frozen lemonade later.”

Her grin reached her eyes now, and Finn breathed a silent sigh of relief that they’d gotten past the earlier awkwardness.

“So they must have loved the snow then?”

“Hm? _They_ who?”

“Your parents.” Her voice went up at bit at the end, and when she looked at him now, her brows knit in silent question. “From what I’ve heard about the Hosnian Plateau, it’s not the easiest place to live – not like Jakku, but not like here, either.” She waved her arm vaguely in the direction of downtown Naboo City. “So I figure that they must have really liked the snow, or at least the cold? Maybe snow appreciation skips a generation?”

Finn couldn’t be absolutely certain what his expression was at that moment, but judging by Rey’s suddenly pale cheeks and the wide eyes he could see even behind her sunglasses, it probably wasn’t what anyone would call friendly.

“Sorry, did I say something wrong?”

“I …” Finn tried for a smile but his lips twisted to one side and he knew that smiling would probably make things worse. “No. No, I’m just … hungry. I’m running on the remnants of a strawberry Pop tart and an orange. You want to grab lunch or something after this?”

“Oh … sure. I could eat.” Rey adjusted her glasses. “There’s so many restaurants in this area, just looking at all the choice made me dizzy. Any suggestions?”

“ _The Pirate Queen_. Definitely. It’s right at the edge of the Triangle, right after the arcade.” Finn squinted at the horizon. “The décor is kind of … a lot, but the food is outstanding. And if it’s not busy, we might actually get to see Maz.”

“Maz? Who’s that?”

“The Pirate Queen herself.” Finn chuckled. “She’s a trip. I keep telling her she needs to sell her story to someone and get a movie deal. Or maybe TV. I could see someone like Viola Davis playing her, maybe.”

“Really? _Not_ Angela Bassett?”

“Nah. Wouldn’t work for me. I’d want to actually be able to pay attention to what’s going on, and not other … stuff.”

That got a real laugh out of Rey. Finn snickered quietly as they steered their dragon boat toward the other end of the lake, passing the man and his daughter – who were now making fairly good time across the water – like they were sitting still.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! (I have not given up on The Stand In. I lost the next chapter of it and kind of lost the thread, but I will get back to it hopefully sooner rather than later!)


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